Lisa "Strumelia" had requested that I report back on how the weekend event at the Battle Of Aiken in South Carolina went. My band, the Camptown Shakers, traveled down on Friday, three of us in one car and we met our fiddler there, he was already in the area on a little vacation. My wife Tracy drove pretty much the whole way, a long 10 hour drive. We hadn’t ever traveled this far south, or anywhere for that matter to do a performance so when this opportunity came up through the event…

This was a surprise. I was sunning my banjo outside to tighten up the head, getting ready to play..had Bully for All in my head. went inside to turn on the radio and listen to the show, and St Patrick's Day was playing...WHAT ?, then "Bully for All", then it was reveled to be Bill Evans. There are a few other players. I caught the show in the middle. Here is the link below, you can listen to the whole show or pick the parts. Enjoy!…

Okay, I'm back in the tutor recording biz. The best thing to do when something isn't happening is to walk away...let it breathe for a while. I'm back at the Guitar Style section...and it seems to be happening. Did 4 of them...up at:

I have up until recently had Monofilament fishing line strings on my "sono-tube banjo. I just wanted to see if there would be an improvement in sound quality if I used the NylGut strings. I ordered some Nylguts and installed them and after they settled in I was very favorably impressed with the improvement in the sound.

They are Louder (a lot) which is a good thing in this case. And I'd call it Mellower (is that a real word?)

Okay, so I have gathered this huge resource of "pure tutor" material. Unalterted, straight ahead versions of our main books...Briggs', Rice, Buckley 1860, Converse Green and Yellow. It is a lot to absorb, even on digital downloads. I am experimenting with "samplers". I put one together with 40 selections chosen from all. I will give away 2 to the first respondents, with the promise of getting feedback. After that, I will sell and send these CD's for $13.00 including shipping. They are…

....is so enjoyable because it can be done on so many different levels. Simple simple stroke tune sound good. ALWAYS...the vocal stuff is great. Our genre includes some fancy advanced pieces, as well as guitar style. It is so very wide open. That is partially why it is so difficult to disseminate sometimes.